AN EARLY MORNING FIRE HAS LEFT... PEOPLE WITHOUT A PLACE TO STAY TONIGHT... THE FIRE STARTED SMALL... AND QUICKLY ESCALATED. ACTION NEWS REPORTER MICHELLE IMPERATO WAS ON THE SCENE. ### THICK BLACK SMOKE FROM A DEVASTATING FIRE BLANKETED SAN LOUIS STREET IN SALINAS THE THREE ALARM BLAZE BROKE OUT IN A SHED JUST BEFORE 8 THIS MORNING... AND QUICKLY SPRED 12:30-37 every on duty firefighter is here, fortunately its shift change so we had a lot of on duty personal too but we had mutual aid companies from every part of the county NEARLY 80 FIREFIGHTERS BATTLED THE FLAMES... AS THEY JUMPED FROM THE SHED TO THE 2 STORY VICTORIAN HOUSE.... TO TWO ADJACENT SINGLE UNIT RENTALS... FIREFIGHTERS WERE ABLE TO STOP IT FROM HITTING THE COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS BEHIND THE PROPERTY... INITIAL REPORTS CALL THE SHED A TOTAL LOSS, AND THE 3 HOMES SUSTAINED EXTREMELY HEAVY DAMAGE... THE HOMEOWNER WATCHED AS FIREFIGHTERS SAWED THROUGH THE ROOF AND ATTACKED THE FLAMES 12:04-17 initial reports that we got on our dispatch were that multiple explosions from the shed and the caller reported that people had been living in that shed, that's a life safety hazard for us so the first thing we did was search the shed. we didn't find anything but the shed was totally destroyed once we got on scene EMERGENCY RESPONDERS BLOCKED OFF SAN LOUIS STREET... AND FRONT STREET FOR TWO BLOCKS IN BOTH DIRECTIONS OF THE FIRE ... NEIGHBORS WATCHED IN DISBELEIF... MANY SAY THIS WAS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN. 14:46-12 several times before these guys have set fire to their house. 2 times the firefighters have been there because of the fire. This morning there were 2 explosions and the guys who were living there ran out the three apartments of my daughter mine and my neighbor caught fire because of their fault. FIREFIGHTERS WERE ABLE TO KNOCK DOWN THE FLAMES WITHIN AN HOUR. IN SALINAS MICHELLE IMPERTO KSBW ACTION NEWS 8. SALINAS ANIMAL

Blazes raging in forests and woodlands across California have taken the life of a firefighter and forced hundreds of people to flee their homes as crews continue to battle the flames from the air and the ground.